Sr., Thomas Belsches

Shelton Thomas Belsches, Sr., 86, died at his home Wednesday, May 14, 2008. A native and resident of Prince George County, Mr. Belsches was the son of the late Prince George County Sheriff Basil R. Belsches and William McKinley (â??Billieâ?) Shelton Belsches. He was the husband of Mrs. Teresa Harvell Belsches and the brother of the late Lt. Col. Basil R. Belsches, Jr., Deputy Superitendent, Virginia State Police. He was a member of First Baptist Church, Hopewell and Edwards Lodge #308, AF&AM, Stony Creek. He was a WWII veteran of the U.S. Army Air Corps and the U.S. Air Force Reserve.
Mr. Belsches was educated in the Prince George County Schools, graduating from the Carson High School. He received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Richmond and a Master of Arts Degree from the Spanish School, Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont. He was retired from a career of thirty-eight years in education, having taught Spanish and English in the Sunnyside-McKenney High School in Dinwiddie County and in the Petersburg High School. He served as Principal of the Wakefield High School, Sussex County, and of the Prince George High School. He was a former member of the Prince George County School Board. In 1959, Mr. Belsches was appointed to be the first Supervisor of Foreign Languages in the Virginia State Department of Education. In that position, he organized Virginiaâ??s first summer institutes for public-school teachers of foreign languages, at Longwood College and at The University of Virginia. Following his work with the State, he served in the Fairfax County, Virginia, Public Schools, as Assistant Principal for Instruction in the W.T. Woodson and George C. Marshall High Schools, Principal of the James Madison High School and the Centerville Elementary School, and Director of Secondary Education. He was retired from the Fairfax County Public Schools in 1978. He then returned to live in Prince George County and taught in the Petersburg Public Schools, from which he retired in 1985. During his career, he was an Instructor in Spanish at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, and he served as a technical writer (Airborne Department) and an instructor (Instructor Training and Guidance) in The Quartermaster School, Fort Lee, Virginia.
Mr. Belsches served as advisor in the development and publication of a series of modern-foreign-language textbooks and tapes based on the use of the audio-lingual method of instruction. He participated in numerous foreign-language-related conferences and workshops at the State and National levels. He was a member of the Virginia and the national Education Associations, The National Association of Secondary School Principals, and the Virginia and National Associations of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese. In 1969, Mr. Belsches participated with a group of secondary-school principals in a tour of secondary schools in Eastern Europe visiting the Soviet Union, Russia, Romania, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia and in Demark and England.
He enjoyed writing as a hobby, especially in genealogy and he was the author of Shendy Tondy Betty â?? The Belsches Family from Scotland to America, a genealogy of his paternal family. He did research also on his motherâ??s family, the Sheltons of Virginia, Kentucky and Illinois, and on his wifeâ??s family, the Harvells of North Carolina and Virginia. He wrote, also, primarily for his children and grandchildren, â??Ramblings and Recollections (of a Southern Grandpa)â?.
In addition to his wife, Mr. Belsches is survived by two daughters, Mrs. Jennifer B. Webster and her husband Richard and Mrs. Jane B. Nardone and her husband Peter; two sons, Charles Elliott Belsches, U.S. Navy (ret.) and his wife, Noriko, and Shelton T. Belsches, Jr., U.S. Air Force (ret.) and his wife, Sallie; seven grandchildren, S/Sgt. Brian Matthew Kestner, USMC and his wife Diana, Sarah Elizabeth Kestner, Timothy Joseph Alexander Belsches, Nicole Marie Belsches, David William Gropp, Daniel Kinder and PFC Michael Shawn Drapala, U.S. Army and two great granddaughters, Cameron Rose Kestner and Sophie Mae Kestner. He is survived also, by a niece, Dr. Allison Belsches Jablonski and her husband, Brian; a nephew, Basil R. Belsches, III and his wife, Lynne; three great nieces, Lucy, Amy and Lily Jablonski; a great nephew, Alexander Belsches; and a sister-in-law, Mrs. Amie Cobb Harvell.
The family will receive friends Saturday, May 17, 2008 from 4:00 to 6:00 P.M. in the Hopewell Chapel of J.T. Morriss & Son Funeral Home & Cremation Service. Funeral services will be conducted at First Baptist Church, 2nd Avenue at Randolph Road, Hopewell, on Monday, May 19, 2008 at 11:00 A.M. Interment will be in the Southlawn Memorial Park, Prince George County. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to First Baptist Church, 401 N. 2nd Avenue, Hopewell, Virginia, 23860, or the American Cancer Society, Mid-Atlantic Division, P.O. Box 2483, Richmond, Virginia 232189-2483. Condolences may be registered with www.jtmorriss.com